Sending a Garmin Message

You can send messages to individual Garmin-equipped vehicles or to a group of Garmin-equipped vehicles. If your account assigns drivers to vehicles, you can instead choose from individual drivers or a group of drivers for Garmin-equipped vehicles. Driver-invoked messages from a Garmin device can be composed on-the-fly (keyboard), chosen from a list of canned messages and responses (quick message), or sent as a status update.

Send Ad Hoc Garmin Messages

You can send a message to a Garmin from several areas of the portal: The dashboard, the Garmin Integration interface, or from 2D and 3D maps. The compose options vary for each area. You can also send a message to a Garmin via SMS text message.

Example
Company XYZ’s Fleet Manager wants to notify delivery drivers via Garmin that Dispatch Center A is closing early today.

To send a message from the dashboard:

From the dashboard, locate the Messaging dashlets. Double-click OR drag-and-drop the Garmin dashlet onto the dashboard.

The dashlet appears on the selected dashboard.

Click Send Message to display message options in the dashlet.

Click the drop-down to select the vehicle or driver group that you want to receive the message. (Use the “show drivers” and “show vehicles” link to toggle between the types.)

All vehicles with Garmin-enabled devices in the selected group are selected by default.

Vehicles marked with an asterisk * are Garmin-enabled but are not active.

Clear individual check boxes as needed to isolate a subset of vehicle(s) or driver(s) in the current group.

Type your message.

Click Send Message.

Within a few seconds, the selected Garmin-equipped devices will receive the message and invoke a visual and audible indicator for the driver.

To send a Garmin message from the Garmin Integration interface:

From the portal, hover over the More menu, click Garmin, and click Open.

The Garmin Integration interface (Dispatch page) opens in a new browser tab.

In the Garmin-Enabled Vehicles grid, locate the vehicle that you want to message. (You can use the Vehicle, Landmark, Address, or Lat/Long “Closest To” filters to narrow the list of vehicles based on a set distance.)

Vehicles marked with an asterisk * are Garmin-enabled but are not active.

Click Send Message (envelope icon ).

In the Send Message window, type the contents of the message.

From the Message Type drop-down, choose from the available options: Text, Text with okay button, or Text with Yes/No buttons. (Adding an OK or Yes/No buttons tracks a driver’s response.)

Select the Display Immediately check box if you want the full message to appear on the display without having to touch the “new message” indicator, or leave the box cleared if you want the “new message” indicator to display first.

Click Send Message.

When the selected Garmin-equipped device receives the message and invoke a visual and audible indicator for the driver. In the Company XYZ example, we would need to repeat the steps for each delivery driver in the fleet.

To send a Garmin message from a map:

From the mapping interface, click the vehicle you want to message.

If the vehicle is Garmin-equipped, the vehicle card contains a Garmin line item.

Click Send message.

The Garmin Integration interface (Dispatch page) opens in a new browser tab with the Send Message window active.

Type the contents of the message.

From the Message Type drop-down, choose from the available options: Text, Text with okay button, or Text with Yes/No buttons. (Adding an OK or Yes/No buttons tracks a driver’s response.)

Select the Display Immediately check box if you want the full message to appear on the display without having to touch the “new message” indicator, or leave the box cleared if you want the “new message” indicator to display first.

Click Send Message.

When the selected Garmin-equipped device receives the message and invoke a visual and audible indicator for the driver. In the Company XYZ example, we would need to repeat the steps for each delivery driver in the fleet.

Send Canned Garmin Messages

Canned messages for Garmin allow you to store a list of commonly-used messages, responses, and statuses on your drivers’ Garmin devices. Choosing from a list of canned messages rather than typing messages on the Garmin’s on-screen keyboard is often easier and faster for your drivers.

Example
Company XYZ’s delivery drivers are required to send message updates via Garmin whenever they arrive at a customer’s location and leave a customer’s location.

To create a canned message, response, or status:

From the portal, hover over the More menu, click Garmin, and click Open.

The Garmin Integration interface (Dispatch page) opens in a new browser tab.

Click Canned Messages, Canned Responses, or Statuses.

At the bottom of the Canned Message List grid, click Canned Message next to Create New.

In the New Canned Message window, compose the message (maximum of 49 characters), and click Create Canned Message.

A success message appears, and the message appears in the Canned Message List grid. In the Company XYZ example, we would repeat the steps to create two more messages for Leaving customer’s location.”

To sync a subset of canned messages to one or more Garmin device:

Canned Message groups allow you to sync a subset of messages to one or more Garmin devices.

Open the Canned Messages page.

At the bottom of the Canned Message Group List grid, click Canned Message Group next to Create New.

In the New Canned Message Group window, enter a name for the group, and click Create Canned Message Group.

The window refreshes with a list of all canned messages. By default none of your messages are included in the new group.

From the right pane (Messages NOT in the group), click to select the message(s) you want to add to the new group. (CTRL+click or SHIFT+click to select more than one message at a time.)

Click Add.

Click Save and Continue.

The window refreshes with a list of all vehicles. By default no vehicles are included in the group. Only vehicles that are not already assigned to a group appear in this list.

From the right pane (Vehicles NOT in the group), click to select the vehicles to add to the new group. (CTRL+click or SHIFT+click to select more than one vehicle at a time. Enter a search string or character in the “Filter excluded list” and click outside the box to refresh the vehicle list.)

Click Add.

Click Save Changes.

The Canned Message Group List grid refreshes to show the number of vehicles assigned. You can now sync messages to the Garmin devices for those vehicles.

From the Garmin Vehicle List grid, select the vehicle(s) that you included in the new group, and click Sync Now.

When the synchronization is complete, canned messages appear under the Garmin’s Quick Message option: